Water-swellable polymers are well known in the art as useful in personal care products such as diapers and various other devices where aqueous absorption is desired. Water-swellable polymers are often produced as a powder or particulate. During the production of such polymer, a variety of particle sizes are produced. Despite the large surface area afforded by a plurality of fine particles, e.g., particles smaller than about 100 microns, such particles do not absorb moisture as desirably as larger polymer particles. Absorption of liquid by fine particles is adversely impacted by gel blocking, whereby an aqueous solution contacted with a polymer mass does not have access to all the polymer particles of the polymer mass, because of dense packing of the particles and gelling at the surfaces of the polymer mass. Accordingly, such fine particles are often separated from the product stream and discarded from the desirable larger particles.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create a product and method of manufacture whereby such fine particles could be recycled or reformed into useful water-absorbing polymer particles, rather than being discarded. It would further be desirable to create a product which capitalizes on the high surface area afforded by a plurality of fine particles, without exhibiting detrimental gel blocking.